Wayne Feltz is a self-described weather geek. Last week, he stood one afternoon on the wind-whipped roof of UW-Madison?s Space Science and Engineering Center, where he works as a researcher, and stared up through the canopy of dish antennas that top the building like some crazy, bristly hairdo.
“We?re running out of room!” Feltz shouted. There was a hint of geeky pride in the pronouncement. And why not? Thanks to what researchers such as Feltz are accomplishing in this building, you will be accurately forewarned this winter of the snowstorms that will turn your driveway into a ski hill. Hunched over their computers, scientists here have advanced meteorology to where we can now literally peer into the future and predict everything from the landfall of hurricanes to the formation of tornados.